Talpa, Texas

History

Talpa was originally a Santa Fe Railroad switching point.  The original town was mapped out in the early part of 1900, consisting of 130 blocks, varying from eight, nine, ten, and twenty lots per block. Several additions were mapped out over the next several years. 

By 1910, Talpa's businesses included a bank, a hotel, two hardware stores, two dry goods stores, two grocery stores, a meat market, a confectionary store, a mercantile store, a drug store, a nursery, a restaurant, a gin, two blacksmith shops, three barber shops, a telephone office, a post office and water works.

Talpa also had a school with two teachers and four churches with preachers in 1910, along with four doctors, a lawyer, a real estate and insurance agent, a milliner, a railroad agent and four section hands and many carpenters. 

Some of the surnames of the early residents: James, Harris, Warrick, Clark, Harrison, Vaughn, Arthur, Kilgore, Mays, Gregory, Whitacre, Zachry, Jones, Evans, Hazle, Guy, Lewis, Fleming, Feeler, Sparks, Meeks, Sayre, Harrison, Valentine, Martin, Hensley, Fomrell, Miller, Tate, Rice, Mays, Wade, Hollinger and Slaton.

By 1940, the town had sixteen businesses and a population of 254.

Talpa History from the Coleman County TXGenWeb Site

Talpa History from the Handbook of Texas Online

Location